Keep plastic money to a minimum

Swiping a credit card for Rs 1000 does not pinch as much as fishing for the 'big' notes in your purse. Have a ballpark estimate of your expenses before you leave home and carry that amount in cash with you.

What this ensures is that most credit card transactions you make are on unplanned, mostly frivolous expenses. This will help you cut down on your credit card spending.

Credit cards get you into the bad habit of swiping first, evaluating later. This way, every time you are about to make a purchase on your credit card, it will be a little reminder to re-evaluate your purchase.

Comentarios

#2
Here in the US we're so consumer driven it's gotten to an unreal level. Normally every store here will have signs posted - "No checks accepted, No denominations over US$20.00 accepted" Each store is now equipped with a new Time Locked Safe that will spit out requested amounts of change, but never more then US$20.00 worth. So if you are stuck with a US$50.00 and have no other way to pay for your US$12.50 in gas, you're stuck hanging out for your change.

Corperate America made changes to the cost of transactions, In my state(it varries by state alot) it costs a vendor US$3.50 to process a Check transaction, and US$1.50 to process a Credit/Debit transaction. This has lead to the addition of signs such as "No Credit/Debit transactions under US$5.00"

Take with you only the cash on your wallet you need for a regular day (food and transportation). Even better, keep in mind how much do you want (need or may) spend on the shopping day. Always ask yourself "Do I really need it?", it helps a lot saving some money.